How goddamned stupid is Don Newman, anyway?

... Consider that if Labour holds on to power because of third-party support then the party that actually received the most votes and the most seats in the election will have no say in how the country is run.

The Conservatives will (again) be the official opposition. How fair is that?

Moreover, the party that received the fewest votes and the fewest seats of the three main standard bearers, the Lib Dems, will effectively be calling the shots (and likely writing the referendum rules) on an important policy issue that fewer than one out of four voters supported on election day. How fair is that?

Gosh, Don, I don't know ... how fair is it that, when there's no clear winner, somebody's going to have to negotiate and you can expect offers and counter-offers and that sort of thing?

The February 2009 elections produced five prominent political parties; Kadima, Likud, Israel Beytenu, Labor and Shas, each with more than ten seats in the Knesset. Three of these parties were ruling parties in the past. However, only once has a single party held the 61 seats needed for a majority government (the Alignment from 1968 until the 1969 elections). Therefore, aside from that one exception, since 1948 Israeli governments have always comprised coalitions. As of 2009, there are 12 political parties represented in the Knesset, spanning both the political and religious spectra.

I look forward to Newman waxing similarly shrieky and weepy and pearl-clutchy over the current state of Israeli politics.